.Rip .Off: Highlights From The Top-Level Domain Scrum

from the .goo-me dept

The whole ICANN process for creating generic top level domains (gTLDs) has clearly been designed to allow certain groups to make a ton of money by basically pressuring individuals and companies to snap up more domains they don't need. The whole thing has appeared impossibly corrupt from the very beginning. However, with ICANN finally releasing the full list of gTLDs that have been applied for (using the obnoxious title "reveal day" -- as if the world was really waiting impatiently for this crap), there are at least some bizarre or interesting factoids as we skim through the list. Here are a few:

Lots of companies applied for their own name or an acronym of their name. This is one area where I could see some benefit in potentially stopping certain phishing scams... But it seems unfortunate that only super rich companies should be able to do that. A few companies sought gTLDs on related terms -- like Nationwide Insurance seeking .onyourside to match with its slogan. Ralph Lauren just wants .polo. Chrysler wants .ram. Travelers Insurance wants .redumbrella (really?!?).

Google's bids are slightly (just slightly) obfuscated by the use of "Charleston Road Registry Inc." as their applicant. But as the company had suggested last month, it was pretty active, going after some clearly Google related names, including .google, .goog, .gmail, .android, .gbiz and .goo. But it also has a few more broadly worded ones, including .ads (which no one else sought), .car (for their autonomous vehicles?), .dad (just in time for father's day?), .mom, .dog, .family, .fyi, .plus, .tour, .prod, .here, .prof, .phd, meme., .lol, .day, .love (which has a lot of competition), .rsvp, .mba, .vip, .web, .eat, .soy and (believe it or not) .and. There are some strange ones too, like .zip, .boo (did Google scare you?) and .foo. They also want .page (is Larry getting his own TLD?).

Thirteen applications were made for .app -- including from Google and Amazon, but also a whole bunch of companies that were clearly set up just to seek .app and all of which have similar names: Dot App LLC, .APP REGISTRY Inc., DotApp Inc., and dot App Limited. Not confusing at all.

Both Amazon and Google would like .book (where they have competition from seven others) and .search (where they have competition from two others).

Amazon and Google actually come up against each other an awful lot, including for .buy, .shop, .store, .free, .game, .play, .movie, .show, .mail, .map, .spot, .talk, .wow, .you and .cloud -- all of which have a bunch of other suitors as well. They also go head to head (with no other competitors) for .drive. They just missed each other in going after children. Google wants .kid, while Amazon wants .kids. Think these two companies are competing in a lot of areas?

Amazon would also like both .safe and .room, but not .saferoom (no one went for that one). Amazon has no competition for either of those.

Amazon would like you to .smile. Somewhat surprised no one else sought that one.

For .docs, Google's competition is... Microsoft. No surprise there. Those two companies also face off (with one other applicant) for .live.

Six different companies are seeking .baby, including Johnson and Johnson... and Google? Not sure I get that one.

Surprised that there are only two applications for .money -- since that's what this whole thing is all about anyway.

Nine companies want .blog. I really have no desire to pay anyone for techdirt.blog.

Slightly surprised that only American Express wants .open.

Hasbro wants .transformers. Seriously.

TJX (owners of stores like Marshall's and TJ Maxx) wants .winners. No one went for .winning. Apparently Charlie Sheen has fallen off the face of the earth.

Six different applications for .cpa (including one from Google). Apparently some people expect that CPAs have money to blow on new domains...

Two different companies want .dot (which actually is kind of creative): Google and Dish. Not sure I understand either one.

McDonalds wants .mcd (and .mcdonalds).

Three different companies want .rip. I'm assuming these are for "memorial" sites.

Notorious hater of anyone who uses the word "Monster," Monster Cable is seeking .monster, but has to compete with the jobs site Monster.com. Those two companies already have an agreement about the use of the term, but you have to imagine they're not happy to see each other here.

Eleven companies want .home, once again including a bunch with similar names. DotHome Inc., Dot Home LLC, .HOME Registry Inc., DotHome/CGR E-Commerce Ltd. Oh yeah, and GoDaddy and Google are both there as well.

The MPAA cannot be happy that Google is also seeking .film, where it's competing against two others, including the "Motion Picture Domain Registry". According to the website for that group, they have a strong association with the MPAA. Both those companies (and a bunch of others, including Amazon as mentioned above) are also competing for .movie.

As expected, there's also a big fight to be had over .music -- including (once again) Google and Amazon, but also a bunch of operations set up just for this purpose: dot Music Limited, DotMusic, DotMusic Inc., and .music LLC. For what it's worth, the RIAA has endorsed the proposal from .music LLC, because it only would allow "accredited" musicians to use it, and the RIAA loves nothing more than the chance to be a gatekeeper.

Starbucks (Starbucks?!) would like .now, but it has steep competition from five other companies, including its neighbor, Amazon.

Seven applications were made for .news (including one from Amazon). I also do not want to buy techdirt.news.

Three different applications for .sucks. Perhaps I'd buy techdirt.sucks.

Yes, someone did apply for .wtf.

.ninja actually is a cool idea for a TLD. I might want one of those.

There are two competing applications for .sex, because we didn't already have enough of a battle over the sex.com domain name years ago.

This is slightly outside the list, but related to it. After the list came out, I received a press release from some silly grandstanding "morality" group insisting that .porn, .sex and .adult need to be opposed because "more porn domains means more porn on the internet." I don't think that requires any response other than laughter at the basic cluelessness.

There's plenty more to dig into, but those were the ones that caught my eye. It seems like the key story is just how often Amazon and Google come up against each other...

Re: Re: Techdirt.ninja

This is one area where I could see some benefit in potentially stopping certain phishing scams [...]

On the contrary, this entire process is a goldmine for phishers and every other variety of scammer. (Unsurprising, really, given that Internet users weren't even considered in this process; the entire thing is a moneygrab for corrupt-to-the-bone ICANN and the registrars. Why should they care if it creates security problems?)

Re:

I was hoping someone else pointed this out in the comments. I completely agree that all these additional customized domain parts will make it SO MUCH EASIER to scam people. "Your password has expired, please go to reset.chase.password to create a new one." Or an update on the misspelling thing "Your Google password has been changed, if you did not request this password change, visit secure.password.googl to confirm your account has not been breached."

Well, a slightly different first view on the applications; google did most, followed by amazon. Neither is surprising, but that fact alone does explain part of why they clash often. A lot of applications are done by organizations that seem to have been created just for those applications (also to be expected, but does raise the question of who is funding them).

Only three applications for .sucks did surprise me, I expected more, seeing as how well .xxx does as a pay-me-not-to-get-listed-here tld. But now that it seems to be a free-for-all, hopefully that whole model will be gone (maybe people will realize noone gives a sucks).

Won't be long now

Won't be long now before the porn industry starts trying to get ones like .tatas or .nards or .nads or even .shlong. Or perhaps some mundane ones like .the or .and. I think we should add another layer of complexity and go for the ever popular:

.nodot

Try explaining that one to a friend. "... dot nodot. No! Put the dot and now nodot. No! Don't erase the dot. It's dot nodot. What the hell are you doing??? Just write it down. Dot! Nodot!!"

Re: Won't be long now

Re: Re: Won't be long now

I don't know what's worse. That link... Or the fact that I clicked on it with that faint, distant hope like a light at the end of a train tunnel that something might actually come up through OpenDNS... until I got hit by OpenDNS'es denial page in the shape of that freight train...

Hmpf

Re: Hmpf

Oh if only the acronymic organisations would take up the .drm domain.

Then DRM sellers could join up with DRM users in their own corner of the internet and then wonder why they have no end users, while over on .piracy companies that set up there could be making a fortune, instead of just paying for DRM and declining sales.

Re:

Re: Re:

Exactly. There's absolutely no need for it whatsoever. These domains are only being offered for 2 reasons - so that unimaginative marketing folk have something else to play with, and so that ICANN and resellers can profit.

Re: Re: Re:

There was a report on NPR yesterday afternoon talking about what great business opportunities this is going to make and how excited people are about new Internet frontier opening up.
*facepalm*
I was literally yelling at the radio after a few minutes. I should really just turn it off when they start talking about the Internet.

Not gonna lie I nabbed a whole bunch of .free domains lol. I was lucky enough to catch them the day they opened signups so I secured some really good ones lmao.It would be awesome to own a TLD though ^^

Re: Dispose of TLDs

Maybe it's just the cynic in me, but more TLDs is just going to be a bigger pain in the ass. The general computing public doesn't understand the concept of subdomains, TLDs and address bars. My mom still can't grasp that maps.google.com does not have www in front of it so she always asks if it needs to be there.

So now you're going to introduce a .free TLD? When I tell my mom, "Go to google.free" she's immediately going to ask "do I put www in front?" and "do I put .com at the end?" This whole thing is nothing but a circle jerk for people who think they understand the internet and people with money. Joe Blow on the internet doesn't care nor will even notice. And speaking of .free, there's where the scammers are going to setup shop. Nothing brings in the masses like the insinuation of free stuff.

The lawyers are going to be awfully happy about this also. If .books gets approved and I jump in and grab bn.books for my Big Novels Bookstore you can damn well bet some people are going to get paid and it won't be me or Barnes & Noble.

vHosts

One would have to wonder about how these new .domain names are going to affect vhosts on irc and other similiar uses since a lot of the time virtual hosts [read vanity hosts] use a lot of .ends in their vHost names on the interwebs.

TLDs

I can only imagine the millions of people rushing to apply for the f**k domain as .you goes live. Also .sucks does have more than one meaning as highlighted by debbie.sucks.

I am only opposed to .sex and .porn when while it would be nice to group all adult content together to help avoid child exposure in the same regards Governments can filter out adults also.

I cannot say any of these domain extensions appeal to me for my own little Internet business.

The only thing I am left wondering is if anyone applied for .moon .luna and .mars? Clearly our species will one day be living and working off-planet and what better way to say where they are? They are obviously long time delays in getting data back so informative as well.

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